Conjoined Paths
by chuxles
Summary: Every choice leads life down a different path.  Some paths are parallel, while others go in completely different directions.  Can Naruto fulfill his dream while traveling down the opposite road?


**Conjoined Paths**

**Summary: After the battle at the Valley of End, Naruto embarks on his training trip with Jiraiya. 2 ½ years later, they return, but Naruto decides that he isn't quite ready to return home yet...**

**Prologue**

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and tipped her current bottle of sake upwards, letting the deliciously warm liquid trickle down her throat. As she pulled the bottle from her lips, she took a quick look around the room and giggled. For some reason, her office looked especially funny right now.

Judging from the thick red blush spread across her cheeks, her disheveled appearance, and the paperwork scattered all over the room, she was drunk off her ass. If that wasn't enough, the dozen or so discarded bottles of sake littering the floor of the Hokage's office was definitely a sign.

Now, if she were somewhat coherent, she probably would have been thinking about the recent events at the Valley of End. Had she been coherent, she would have realized that Sasuke's defection would cause enormous problems for Naruto. The village's citizens would be reluctant to believe their precious Uchiha had abandoned them. They would be looking for a scapegoat.

And who better than the currently defenseless village monster?

Alas, she was miles away from coherent and the sole concern in her mind was why there wasn't anymore sake coming out of the bottle.

Sensing that her current bottle was empty, Tsunade stood up and chucked the now empty bottle across the room, where it promptly shattered as impacted against the closed door. She scowled and then jumped over her desk to clean up the mess. Or at least, she tried to.

In her drunken state, the slug-sannin misjudged the distance and jumped a little too shallowly, causing her feet to catch the edge of her desk. As a result, her feet hooked the desk and her momentum swung her upper body forward and pulled her into a forward roll. Disoriented and surprised she merely watched as she tumbled to the ground. Scowling once more, she stood up... and immediately vomited.

"Damn Tsunade, you sure can't hold your liquor like you used to."

Tsunade, although having consumed a great deal of alcohol, would recognize that voice anywhere. "Jiraiya," she growled, "I'm not... in the... in the... the mood to... deal with you now. So, 'less it's important..."

Said pervert waited patiently for the Hokage to finish speaking, but she couldn't seem to speak correctly.

Tsunade swayed on her feet while her mouth continued to move, but no sound came out. Sensing danger, Jiraiya leapt from the windowsill to Tsunade's side and caught her bridal style as she collapsed. 'Damn Tsunade, just how much did you drink?' thought the hermit.

Jiraiya set her down and placed her head on his lap, while simultaneously flipping open her eyelids to check for her level of intoxication. 'Hmm... judging by the number of sake bottles on the floor... her blood alcohol level would be around .45.'

Jiraiya smirked. Tsunade wasn't known as the greatest medic-nin of her time for nothing. Either she had trained her body to withstand or metabolize insane amounts of alcohol, or she had developed a jutsu to minimize the negative effects of the delicious depressant without impeding her ability to become piss roaring drunk.

Based on the fact that he had never seen Tsunade with a hangover and he had never managed to seduce a drunken Tsunade (though not for lack of trying) he was betting it was the latter of the two options. Jiraiya tenderly placed her head on the floor and stood up. He quickly bit his thumb and flashed through a set of familiar handseals before slamming his palm to the ground and declaring, "Kuchiyose no Justu!"

Smoke immediately followed the declaration and Jiraiya waited patiently for it to clear. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing a small orange toad with black stripes who was wearing a blue vest. The summon waited for a moment before dramatically declaring, "Yo!"

"Gamakichi, I need a favor," Jiraiya stated bluntly.

Said toad eyed the hermit warily. "After you used me for your research last time," Gamakichi suppressed a shudder, "no." Jiraiya huffed indignantly.

"As if a toad like you could understand the importance and beauty of my research." With that aside, he became serious. "This has nothing to do with that right now. Tsunade is drunk. I need to talk to her. Follow?"

Gamakichi nodded. "You need some toad oil for your sobering medicine." Jiraiya produced a vial of green bubbling liquid. The fumes it produced were putrid. "Eh... gross," said the toad. "Fine ero-sennin, but you owe me one."

Jiraiya nodded, unfazed at the toads lack of disrespect while Gamakichi got to work spitting out a copious amount of the equally foul brown liquid from his mouth.

"Thanks," Jiraiya stated simply. He carefully mixed a portion of the toad oil into the vial before storing the rest in a pocket in his shirt. Gamakichi gave him a quick salute and puffed out of existence.

Tipping the vial of the now amazingly clear, but still incredibly thick liquid into Tsunade's mouth, Jiraiya braced himself against the predicted reaction. He wasn't disappointed.

After Jiraiya's miracle sobering medicine hit her stomach, Tsunade's eyes shot open and a series of violent coughs erupted from her throat. A wave of nausea hit her and she immediately rolled over onto her hands and knees just in time her heave a great deal of vomit onto her carpet. Coughing a few more times, she looked up to see Jiraiya smirking at her.

Feeling incredibly annoyed, she did what anybody would do. She let loose a long string of curse words. Unfortunately for Jiraiya, she was definitely not in the mood to see Jiraiya's smirking face. Tsunade launched herself at Jiraiya and tackled him by surprise. As soon as they hit the ground, they began rolling around, battling for supremacy. Tsunade came out on top. Literally.

Tsunade straddled Jiraiya high on his chest in the front mount position and pinned his arms to the floor at the elbows. Tsunade grinned cheekily as if saying, you lose again.

"Ho ho." Jiraiya chuckled, staring appreciatively at Tsunade's sizeable assets, "I had a dream like this once. Only you were a little less angry and a little more naked." Tsunade's eye developed a sudden twitch and a large bead of sweat formed on the back of her head.

"Jiraiya," she voiced in a dangerously low tone. "What do you want?"

The toad sannin grinned lecherously. "Other than you?" Tsunade's fist suddenly found itself in the area where Jiraiya's head had previously occupied. Pulling her first out of its crater, she cocked her arm back for another swing and let loose. "Its about Naruto."

Tsunade paused mid-swing. Gone was the lecherous grin and the goofy aura. Jiraiya was the epitome of seriousness. Whatever he wanted to discuss with her could not be good, especially if it had anything to do with Naruto. Despite her worry, her recently sobered brain was still hazy, and she had no recollections of any problems that were Naruto related. Scratching her cheek thoughtfully, Tsunade mentally checked over the past days events.

Memories came rushing back to her. The mission to retrieve Sasuke. Healing Chouji. Kakashi returning with a limp Naruto in his arms. The iciness that had enveloped her at seeing him in such a state and the rage knowing that Orochimaru was involved somehow. Though what rang most vibrantly in his mind, was Naruto's promise of a lifetime to Sakura.

Nothing good could come from that promise. Only more disappointment and hurt.

Reluctantly, Tsunade pulled back her fist and got off of Jiraiya. Extending him a hand, she jerked him to his feet. Jiraiya grinned again before Tsunade asked him in a dull voice, "What about Naruto?"

Jiraiya's grin vanished, leaving behind a rather serious expression. "I talked to the gaki in the hospital today. He is still dead set on returning Sasuke to Konoha. You should know that he's both stubborn and stupid enough to go after him." Tsunade sighed deeply.

"I do know. But he's nowhere near strong enough to be able to waltz into oto and pull the Uchiha out of there. Not with Orochimaru and Kabuto and who knows how many sound nins." Jiraiya nodded solemnly.

"Thats not all of it either. My spy network indicates that Akatsuki will be in a dormant state for three years before resuming their hunt for the biju."

Tsunade glanced sharply at him at the mention of Akatsuki. "Why?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "I don't know. I have some theories, but none of them are concrete. Could just be that they don't view Naruto as a threat." Jiraiya didn't mention that he doubted that even with a full three years worth of training, Naruto would be strong enough to defend himself against the full force of Akatsuki.

Tsunade broke eye contact with Jiraiya and walked over to her desk. Jiraiya was hiding something from her, she could sense it. Deciding to let it go for once, she slumped into her chair and set her elbows on the large hokage's desk before looking up once more. "What are you planning?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "I need time to train him and I can't do it here. Konoha is too restrictive and Naruto will want to take off after Sasuke at even the slightest news of him."

"How long?" she questioned.

"Two and a half to three years. I don't know exactly when we'll be back, but I'll have him strong enough to take care of himself by then."

"Good," Tsunade said simply. In the top right drawer of her desk lay a single mission scroll. Tsunade had written this particular scroll herself. It was for Naruto. Tsunade had predicted what Jiraiya would need to do and had drawn up the mission details before she had started her drinking binge. All the remained to do was fill in the amount of time and sign her name to it.

Jiraiya was surprised and such an event did not occur very often. He had been expecting a heated argument. He had never entertained the possibility that Tsunade would give him this so easily. Maybe he should try some sort of similar tactic the next time he... Jiraiya blushed at the thought. No, Tsunade would murder him, bring him back to life, then slowly remove his genitalia while simultaneously burning all his manuscripts. Then again, if he could manage to avoid that genitalia bit, it would be great research...

When Tsunade pulled out the mission scroll, Jiraiya voiced his concern. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Tsunade smiled sadly at him. "With what? My precious otouto leaving? No. I'm not sure. But... its what Minato and Kushina would want."

Jiraiya stiffened at the mention of his former pupil and his lover. They had been so in love, but they had been unable to marry due to Uzumaki Kushina's country of origin. The council would not have allowed it.

"When are you leaving?" Tsunade asked gently.

Jiraiya leapt to the windowsill and looked back at Tsunade. "Tomorrow." Not waiting to hear Tsunade's response, Jiraiya took off and did not look back.

_10 Minutes Later_

It was midnight in Konoha. The moon was nearing full and clouds obscured its view of the earth, making Konoha quite close to total darkness. Thankfully, the streetlights and the random lit-up room kept civilians from floundering in darkness. Not that it mattered to a ninja.

Jiraiya stood on the rooftop to the Konoha Hospital, thinking about his genin days. Those truly were the best of times. Sarutobi-sensei teaching them new jutsu, little flat-chested Tsunade starting to get into gambling, and Orochimaru... before he turned against Konoha. When he was no longer known as a traitorous murderer, but simply as Orochimaru, a prodigy, a rival, and... his best friend.

It was funny how things changed. After they became chunin, Orochimaru started to become distant, spending less time with them and more time training on his own. He had always been the most reserved of the three, so neither Jiraiya, Tsunade, nor Sarutobi-sensei had noticed anything. They were all occupied with their own dreams: Tsunade with her medical training, Sarutobi-sensei with his Hokage candidacy, and himself, training like a man possessed (with a little peeping now and then).

It wasn't until Minato had become the Yondaime that Orochimaru's true nature came out of the closet. Jiraiya laughed internally. That must have been a huge blow to his ego. He wondered which was worse, that a man half his age had surpassed him, or that the man who had trained him was none other than his idiotic, perverted rival. Whichever it was, Orochimaru had left the village after his experiments had been discovered and despite his attempts to return him, to get the old Orochimaru back, Jiraiya had failed.

Jiraiya's fingers curled themselves into a tight ball and his arms shook, rage rising to the surface. Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Naruto and Sasuke. The dead-last and the prodigy. The hero and the villain. History was repeating itself, and he'd be damned before he let Naruto make the same mistakes that he did.

Jiraiya was distracted from his thoughts when the door to the rooftop opened abruptly and a heavily bandaged figure walked through the door. A patient? Jiraiya thought. No one with that many bandages wrapped around them should be able to move that easily. Unless... Suddenly, the moon broke free from the clouds and Jiraiya caught a glimpse of something he definitely should have expected. Blonde hair.

"Eh? Ero-sennin!" shouted the blonde, his mouth open wide and his finger pointing accusingly at the hermit.

"Hey, gaki, quiet down. The village needs its rest." Jiraiya cast another glance at the blonde, noting the telltale signs of fatigue. "So do you by the looks of it."

Naruto crossed his arms and turned around, a scowl adorning his face. "What do you care? I need to train so I can get stronger and fulfill my promise to Sakura-chan."

Jiraiya knew that nothing could deter Naruto from his goals, but he decided to test the waters a bit, so to speak. "Forget your promise Naruto. Sasuke is dead to you."

Jiraiya suddenly found himself staring face to face with the darkened expression of Konoha's resident jinchuuriki. "I never go back on my word. Thats my nindo."

Jiraiya leaned in to throw back a scathing remark, but as he did, he found himself staring at a silhouetted image of Namikaze Minato. Surprised, Jiraiya jumped back, his heart beating extraordinarily fast. Just like him... even now.

Sensing that he'd won, Naruto began unwrapping his bandages and verbally planning out his midnight training session. "First, I'll run 10 laps around Konoha, then I'll do 200 pushups followed by 200 sit-ups..."

When Jiraiya looked back over to Naruto, all he could see was Minato and he couldn't help but smile. Minato he thought, your son is becoming so strong, but he's going down the same path as I did. His dream is on an entirely different road. I promise you, I'll do whatever it takes for his dream to come true.

"... then I'll spar with a hundred shadow clones –

"Naruto!" Jiraiya interjected, "why do you want to become strong?"

Naruto grinned and gave his typical answer. "So I can become Hokage and people will recognize my existense." Jiraiya sighed. "If that's the only reason, then I won't train you anymore."

Hearing the pervert's refusal to train him left him momentarily shocked. Shock quickly turned to rage and he angrily retorted, "Fine! I don't need your help. I'll get strong on my own. Then I can fulfill my promise to Sakura-chan and protect my precious people." Naruto held out his left hand, palm up, and slammed his right fist down on top of it, all while nodding. Nodding more vigorously he added, "Yeah, that's what I'll do."

"Ho ho!" said Jiraiya. "So the reason you want to become strong is to protect your precious people then?"

Naruto glared at him. "Of course ero-sennin. I said I'd become Hokage and bring back Sasuke and I never go back on my word. Because that's my nindo."

Jiraiya smiled broadly and walked over to Naruto, who cautiously moved into a defensive stance. "What are you doing, Ero–?" Jiraiya silenced him by laying a large hand on top of his apprentice's blonde locks. Naruto looked up at him questioningly, who replied with, "Good answer."

Laughing at the puzzled look on Naruto's face, Jiraiya began to walk away. "Ero-sennin! Where are you going?"

Jiraiya continued walking, but turned his head to look at Naruto. "We're leaving now, gaki. I'll be training you away from Konoha for a while. When we get back, you can go and bring back your Uchiha friend and fulfill your promise."

Naruto was speechless, something that rarely happened and when it did, most people liked to take advantage of it. Jiraiya used to that time to increase the distance between them. Thank you, Ero-sennin. When I get back, I'll definitely be stronger than Sasuke-teme, and I'll fulfill my promise to Sakura-chan. Naruto turned his gaze to the sky and silently made a promise to Sasuke. I'll bring you back. I promise.

"Hurry up Naruto!" shouted Jiraiya, who was already half a mile away. Naruto looked around quickly, and finally noticed Jiraiya's absence. "Eh?! Ero-sennin! Wait up!"

And with his thoughts on friends, brothers, promises, and dreams, Naruto left Konoha.

* * *

**2 1/2 Years later in Fire Country**

The Land of Fire hadn't seen such a beautiful day since before the Shodai Hokage had built the Konohagakure all those years ago. The sun shone brightly, sending rays of sunlight to gently wash over the earth, untroubled by passing clouds. Woodland creatures scurried about their daily rituals and frolicked aimlessly with each other. They didn't even notice the two quiet travelers that ambled by them.

But perhaps, that was because those two travelers were unable to be seen by the naked eye. However, if one were to possess the infamous Sharingan, or the prestigious byakugan, the protective camouflage of the Meseigakure no Jutsu would fall, and all that would be left were two extraordinarily odd looking people. Ninja's to be specific.

However, ninjas who did possess the ability to implement this A-ranked ninjutsu used it for a very simple purpose. To avoid being seen. While the applications of the technique could be as trivial as avoiding one's enraged spouse (an extremely popular application with philandering men) to as devious as mounting a deadly invisible blitz attack against an unsuspecting enemy. The absence of sight gave a significant disadvantage to those who foolishly relied on it.

A deep voice rang out of thin air. "Alright gaki, we're well within Fire Country borders. Drop the jutsu." As the words were spoken, a tall figure with long white hair began to materialize. This figure was Jiraiya, and he certainly was a sight to behold. He wore his usual garb, brownish-grey pants and shirt, forearm bracers bracers that attached at his hands and ran up his sleeves, his usual wooden sandals and a metal headband with the kanji for oil. However, Rather than his usual red vest, he wore a long, flowing red cape. However, the special (and beautiful according to him) part about this cape, was that it displayed a blown up picture of the cover of Icha Icha Paradise. Strangely, he had two black eyes, but his clothes gave no indication that he had recently been in a fight.

Another voice, higher and of a mysterious nature, replied back. "I wish you'd get rid of that cape Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya made a face. "What for? I just had it made!"

"You look like a walking advertisement for perverts!" his companion shouted back.

Jiraiya huffed indignantly and grabbed his cape with his left arm and brought it in front of himself. Half the picture was displayed. More specifically, the female part of the picture. "I can't believe that after all this time with me, you still don't understand the beauty of this book." The voice let out a bark of laughter.

"Yeah, it's just me. No wait! The girls at the hot springs in Wave Country didn't understand either. You still owe me for saving you back then. And when the Daimyo of Grass Country caught you chatting up his niece. And then there was that time the entire Fuuma Clan chased you for trying to sell them your newest Icha Icha book." Jiraiya made a pained face and ducked his head to hide his reddening face. The blonde had definitely gotten stronger, anyone that knew him before could attest to that.

"Hey that's not fair. They only made fun of it because they were embarrassed they were in the presence of the Great Toad Sannin, Jiraiya!"

This declaration was met with a swift fist to the back of the head.

Jiraiya immediately doubled over, clutching the back of his head with both hands. "Fine," he seethed, "think what you want. Just drop the damn jutsu already." The figure gave an invisible nod of agreement and he too began to appear, seemingly out of nowhere.

This ninja was young, no more than fifteen years old. His long blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, where it hung loosely about halfway down his back. Sky blue eyes shined with laughter, framed by a face devoid of any fat. His feet were covered in tight black shoes with hardened soles, which added half an inch to his already tall form. His lean frame was clad in loose black pants that stopped just above his ankles and a tight mesh shirt. Overtop of the shirt, was a slightly looser shirt, which the shinobi was very proud to call his own. He had designed it himself.

The shirt was mostly black and was reasonably loose, but a bit tight in the areas where the fabric stretched over his large pectoral muscles. The only different in color were from the designs. On the back of the shirt was a large red spiral, nearly identical to the one that had adorned much of his previous clothing. On the front was the kanji for kitsune, written in fiery red characters. He pulled a black and orange sweater off his left shoulder and gazed longingly at the sky.

Pausing for a moment to enjoy the beauty of Fire Country, the blonde shinobi let out a long sigh. "It's been far too long since I've been back here." Naruto was home.

Naruto took a deep breath and held it in, savoring the fresh scent of pure and untainted Fire Country air. Looking around thoughtfully, Naruto spotted two squirrels in a tussle for what appeared to be an acorn. Well, three squirrels actually. Two of the squirrels were tackling and biting each other while attempting to run off with the acorn, while the third squirrel made loud chirping noises and ran in circles, hoping to draw their attention.

Naruto smiled softly. Just like my genin team when we first started. Me, Sakura-chan, and...

Naruto's expression immediately hardened. He inadvertently let out a growl and bared his large canines, his eyes flashing a murderous red as whisker marks and fingernails began to lengthen.

Sasuke!

"Naruto!" Said boy turned his head sharply to the source of the noise. Jiraiya was staring at him warningly and his right hand was discreetly moving into his shirt pocket. If the jinchuuriki showed any sign of losing control of his demon, Jiraiya was now ready to pounce and seal off any trace of youkai. Naruto closed his eyes and unclenched his fists. Taking several calming breaths, the red chakra of the Kyuubi began to dissipate, slowly reversing Naruto's transformation. Odd, thought Jiraiya, Naruto is usually in complete control of the Kyuubi's chakra. Something must be wrong.

Jiraiya shook his head, which Naruto interpreted as a scolding. He's probably just anxious to see his friends again. But then again... if some unknown factor was causing to shake loose the tight grip Naruto had on his tenant, then Jiraiya needed to find out what it was. Immediately.

"Hey! Gaki." Naruto opened his eyes again, revealing nothing but electric blue irises. "I know that you must be nervous about seeing everyone after all this time, but don't let your emotions overcome your senses." Naruto internally rolled his eyes.

Rule # 5. That had been one of the several shinobi guidelines that Jiraiya had seen fit to drill into him on a twice daily basis. Although no less important everytime it was stated, it had started to get old after the first seven or eight repeats. Especially since Naruto, in his former state, was an exclusively emotional fighter, and such a rule clashed with his normal fighting style.

Sighing deeply, Naruto put his hands behind his head and looked to the sky, which was partially obscured be the forest canopy. "I know," he replied, "but a shinobi must always know the outcome of a situation before he goes into it." Shinobi guideline # 68. Jiraiya laughed deeply. "Ho ho! So you were paying attention during my lessons." Jiraiya laughed again, but noticed that Naruto still seemed troubled. Walking over to him, he laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You've changed Naruto and so have the rest of your friends. They might actually be surprised by how much stronger you've become. They'll definitely be surprised with how much smarter you've become though." Naruto scowled at the comment. "Just remember this kid. No matter how much you or they have changed, they're still the same person. They're still your friends, and they're lucky to be counted among the people you call precious."

Naruto shrugged off the hand and walked about three feet away from his perverted mentor. With his back turned to him he simply stated, "That's not what I'm worried about." Feeling Jiraiya's inquisitive stare bore into the back of his head, Naruto turned to face him. "I've just been wondering... what he would think of me."

Jiraiya's face was the picture of neutrality. Betraying no emotions, thoughts ran through his head. And no, they weren't the usual thoughts shaped like deliciously curvy female bodies or little orange books. No, the most prominent thought was shaped like a certain blonde-haired Hokage and his legacy. Feeling a sudden heaviness in his throat, Jiraiya raised a hand to his mouth and coughed a few times, before reaching to a jug of sake tied to his belt.

After taking a very long swig of the high quality alcohol, Jiraiya grunted out a question. "How long have you known?" He was answered by a bitter laugh. Naruto let his arms drop to his sides. Starting out softly, he voice got progressively higher until he was practically shouting. "How long have I known? How long were planning on keeping it from me?"

Jiraiya looked away, unable to meet Naruto's glare. "Sarutobi-sensei ordered that all records of the incident be sealed, including the origins of the child the Kyuubi was sealed into. I wasn't present in Konoha the night that it was attacked, so I didn't find out until later. But I did come back as soon as I heard he'd been killed. Imagine my surprise when I found you bundled up in his arms and my rage when my own teacher told me that no one could know where you came from." Jiraiya looked up and saw that the anger in Naruto's glare had dulled. "Believe me Naruto, I wanted to tell you everything, but Sarutobi-sensei said that for your own protection, you couldn't know until you were old enough to be able to defend yourself."

Naruto's glare dropped entirely and his unseeing gaze was directed towards the dirt underneath of him. "So, it was all because of oji-san, huh?" Turning away again, he trudged once more down the path to Konoha. "Fine."

Jiraiya watched Naruto's retreating form for a few moments. "Naruto," he called out, "you still haven't answered my question. Naruto paused and turned around slowly, a sad smile decorating his lips. "No, I guess I haven't. I figured it out, quite a while ago..."

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_  
Flashback: Two months previously in Wave Country_

_Jiraiya loved Wave Country. He loved it purely and simply because of its proximity to the ocean and therefore almost the entire island had quick access to the beaches. Although beach season in Wave Country was rather short, Jiraiya made a special note to always come to Wave Country when the sun was out, the weather was warm, and there were many beautiful young girls in bikinis. This time of year held a special place in the heart of all open, closet, and super perverts because during this time, they no longer had to watch from a distance (often with binoculars), they could laugh and play and secretly ogle girls from a close distance._

_Jiraiya was no exception. It was both beach season and a beautiful day. With only two months remaining before he planned on returning to Konoha, he really should have been pushing Naruto past his usual limits in an effort to take him up to the next level. A level all his own._

_But alas, when he had woken up this morning, he had heard a chorus of giggles and smelt a very light flower perfume. Without even bothering to leave Naruto a note, he had bolted out of his bed, jumped into his bathing suit, and chased after the girls. The blonde one in the spotted green bikini had been on the receiving end of most of Jiraiya's attentions. Presently, he lay on a long rainbow beach towel directly in the middle of two gorgeous bikini clad girls. Life was sweet._

_"Oi! Ero-sennin!" Or so it seemed. Sighing deeply, Jiraiya discreetly pulled his hands up to his chest. He summoned up a slight amount of chakra and whispered, "**henge no jutsu**." Luckily for him, the girls beside of him were asleep, or else the miniscule amounts of smoke would not have covered him while he changed from a white haired old man, to a tall and well muscled youth._

_Despite the change, Jiraiya didn't look all too different. Just younger and with different colored hair, plus the absence of face paint. Small changes were the key to the **Henge no Jutsu**. The larger the changes, the easier it is to see through the jutsu. Jiraiya grinned smugly. He'd have quite a day to himself..._

_Elsewhere_  
_  
"Damn ero-sennin. Wakes up without telling me and leaves! We were supposed to be training! Damn pervert runs off to play with a whole bunch of girls not even a third his age." Unknown to Jiraiya, Naruto had actually already found and confirmed Jiraiya's present location. His henge was good, but Naruto's nose was better. Unlike Kiba's nose, Naruto had no need to channel chakra through his sensory organ to enhance his smell. No, the Kyuubi took care of that._

_The day he had turned fifteen, Naruto had woken up feeling different. It wasn't different in a bad way, just... different. He was soon to determine the cause when Jiraiya had loudly burst into the room with a busty blonde and a leggy sun-tanned brunette. His senses had automatically heightened to inhuman levels. It was just a little side-effect of being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. After screaming with his eyes closed and his hands clamped to his ears questioning how in the hell Jiraiya still got action, he had ran through the window of the hotel they were currently staying in and into a nearby forest._

_It was there that he had a little conversation with a familiar Lord of the Demons and he had explained that due to the weakening of the seal, Naruto's body was compensating by slowly leeching away his excess chakra. Due to the influx of youkai in his body, he was also assimilating some of the kitsune's abilities at a faster rate than he would have if the seal had remained at full strength._

_The trick of it was that he only inherited the abilities that were useful to him. When questioned with why he had never displayed such abilities, the fox retorted with a simple inquiry of where Naruto had inherited his love of pranks. Needless to say, that had sufficiently shut him up._

_Swearing loudly, he decided that he would train without Jiraiya today. It wasn't as though Jiraiya taught him that much to begin with. Okay, that wasn't fair. Jiraiya had shown him that Kage Bushin trick, even if it was by accident. Nevertheless, Naruto's progress in all fields of the Ninja Arts had skyrocketed. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Kenjutsu. The only area that Naruto was not exceedingly proficient in was Fuin Jutsu, but that was understandable. With the Kyuubi attempting to listen in at all of their lessons, he may have found a way to break through his prison in Naruto's stomach._

_Naruto hugging his body with one arm and using the other to thoughtfully stroke his chin, Naruto pondered what he should train in today. After a few ponderous moments, his face lit up and he snapped his fingers. Taijutsu of course. He'd just summon up another army of Kage Bushins and have a battle royal. However, the clearing he was in wasn't suitable for the number of bushin that he wanted to create, so he hopped away quickly, intent on finding a more suitable training area._

_Luckily for him, the moment he jumped away, a kunai with an exploding note attached to the handle landed where Naruto had previously stood. Naruto was instantly alert and his eyes darted through the trees, searching frantically for the source of the attack. A shrouded figure shot out of the canopy of the forest, heading straight for him at a high speed. Naruto snatched a kunai from his holster and prepared to defend himself. As the figure drew nearer, the exploding note detonated, sending a cloud of smoke high into the air, obscuring his vision._

_'Clever,' he thought, 'using the late detonating exploding note as a smokescreen for his attack. This guy isn't half-bad.' But Naruto's eyes peered through the smoke, undeterred by the thick debris debilitating his vision. Suddenly, a pair of hands shot out of the ground and grabbed his ankles while the voice that went along with the hands shouted out, "**Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!**"_

_Naruto instantly found himself buried up the neck in the ground, while a cloaked black figure popped out of the ground next to him. "I can't believe you fell for that. I can't believe we lost to a war to such pathetic ninja." The figure pulled back his hood, revealing a hitai-ate displaying a picture of a boulder with a deep gash through the middle. A nuke-nin from Iwa._

_This ninja looked old. Middle-aged at least, probably somewhere around forty, so it was safe to assume that he had participated in the last war. Not good news for Naruto. A former Iwa-nin would go out of his way to harm a Konoha-nin. Especially one bearing such a strong resemblance to him. "Lets see who we have here," said the old ninja as he leaned forward to take a closer look at his hostage. His eyes widened and he whispered two words._

_"Kiroi Senko"_

_Shocked, the nuke-nin hesitated. Before he regained his composure, he heard someone cry out, "**Bushin Daibukuha!**" Grinning cheekily, the head that was currently submerged in earth winked. The older ninja blinked with surprise and found himself staring directly in the center of a white-hot explosion, which grew increasingly large as it sucked in more and more air. Surprised and unprepared for an attack of such high magnitude, he could do absolutely nothing as the explosion sent him forcefully into a tree, where he hit the trunk bodily and lay immobile._

_In a flash, a kunai was pressed to his neck and he found himself staring into a pair merciless blue eyes. Suddenly unable to move, a familiar emotion flared in his eyes._

_Fear._

_At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to escape and run desperately for his life. Sadly for him, that was not an option. Dejectedly, he mentally resigned himself to his fate._

_"Family?" the boy grunted at him._

_Suddenly unable to speak, the ex-Iwa nin could only stare at him blankly._

_"**Kanishibari no Jutsu**," informed the boy, "you're paralyzed for the moment. Just blink once for yes and twice for no."_

_Naruto studied his attacker's eyes as he blinked once... twice. No family. Naruto nodded gently, a look of sympathy crossed his face as he pulled out a kunai._

_No emotion showed on the shinobi's face and as Naruto tightened his grip on his implement, the shinobi let out a sigh of relief._

_To his enormous surprise, the blonde shinobi's expression softened. He turned away from him and flicked his hand outwards as if to shoo him away. "Go," he said. "Take care of them and don't waste your life trying to get revenge for something that happened years ago."_

_As Naruto began to walk away, the nuke-nin almost laughed. He was spared! Glaring at the retreating form of the ninja, he called out to him. "Kir--, I mean shinobi-san. What is your name?"_

_The Yellow Flash look-a-like spun around on the spot and flashed him a victorious grin. "Uzumaki Naruto." He turned again to continue when he heard the Nin he had spared yell out his name as well._

_"Yuy Genma!" he shouted.  
_**  
End Flashback**  
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"After that, it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was my father."

Jiraiya was silent. That was definitely not the way he had wanted him to find out. However, it did give way to the reason for Naruto's uncharacteristic melancholy, and why he had suddenly stopped fondly referring to himself as 'Ero-sennin' and Tsunade as 'baa-chan.'

Jiraiya winced inwardly. When they returned and Tsunade found that she was now just plain old Tsunade to him, he couldn't be sure of her reactions. However, one thing was for sure. It would be his fault somehow.

Jiraiya opened his mouth to apologize. This wasn't the same type of situation where he had withheld information for Naruto's own good, nor was it the type where he would say one thing and mean he wasn't. He had kept Naruto from knowing who his father was, even after he knew that Naruto was perfectly capable of defending himself, even against Akatsuki. He had in fact, already eluded them three times since he had left Konoha, with minimal assistance from Jiraiya.

Yes, he need to apologize, and badly. Minato had wanted his only son to know of his heritage, but Jiraiya had felt that Naruto wasn't quite ready to handle that information. Obviously, he had been wrong. "Naruto I-"

"Don't say it," Naruto growled.

Jiraiya flinched at the amount of malice and fury in his student's voice. "I don't want to hear it. Any of it."

As Naruto turned his eyes onto Jiraiya, his voice leveled out and he seemed to calm slightly. His posture relaxed and his released the fists that he had been unconciously clenching. But as Jiraiya locked eyes with his pupil, an odd feeling passed over him. It was almost as though... he were being judged.

Those eyes, normally so full of warmth and laughter now seemed cold and hollow. They held no malice, but the pure intensity of his gaze was... impressive. They were eyes that peered into the heart to see through deception.

"Naruto, for what its worth, I'm sorry. I'm sure your father never wanted you to have this life."

Silence, then... "I know."

Naruto placed his hands on the back of his head and diverted his gaze. "Look, I'm still pissed that you decided that I couldn't handle this, but we have more important things to attend to right now."

"Konoha is only a mile away. Let's go!" Pointing his index finger in the correct direction, Jiraiya took off at a high speed, with Naruto directly behind him.

Naruto jumped forward to even himself with Jiraiya and spoke evenly. "We'll talk about this later."  
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As they frantically raced towards the gates of Konoha, doubt crept into Naruto's mind. Was he really ready to return to the place where most of the population ignored, if not hated him? Yes, he replied firmly to himself. His precious people were in Konoha. Tsunade-sama, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, the rest of the Rookie Nine, Team Gai, Sasu...

Naruto stopped dead. Sasuke. No, not all of his precious people were in Konoha. One remained estranged from the rest of them, and Naruto was bound by his word to return him to Konoha even if it took a thousand of his lifetimes.

Staring at the ground, Naruto thought hard back to the Valley of End. They were supposed to fight as equals. With their hitai-ate's secured firmly to their foreheads, they had acknowledged each other as worthy rivals and had fought as hard as they could to defeat the other. At least, Sasuke had.

Sasuke would be furious if he knew, but Naruto had a secret. He had held back. As Sasuke's Chidori and Naruto's Rasengan had battled desperately for supremacy, Naruto had seen an opportunity to assert his dominance over his rival. Every instinct had screamed at him to do so, to show him, to show everyone, that he! Naruto, was strong and that Sasuke was nothing more than an arrogant bastard who would do anything for an easy path to power.

The split second opportunity had come, and Naruto had the ability to tear off half the traitor's face. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't knock the arrogant Uchiha off his self-made pedestal. He couldn't break his promise to Sakura-chan. But most of all, he couldn't kill his brother. So he hesitated for just a split second, and it had cost him the battle.

Instead of killing him, Naruto had left him with just a sign. With his Kyuubi-enhanced claws, he scratched a deep line across Sasuke's hitai-ate to show him that he could have won. Unfortunately, the battle had worn through the cloth securing it to his forehead, and it had fallen without Sasuke ever seeing it. Sasuke never knew that he was never the superior one.

Afterwards, Naruto had embarked on his training mission with Jiraiya and now after two and a half years, they were finally back. However, Naruto saw more than one road ahead of him. The first path lay straight in front of him. It led directly to Konoha and eventually to the fulfillment of his every dream. With his newfound strength and appearance, there was not a single doubt in his mind that he would gain more fan girls than every Uchiha past and present, combined, overnight. He would gain the respect and acknowledgment of his village and he would become Hokage.

However, the second path lay directly behind him. Naruto wasn't sure where this path would lead him through; he only saw the destination at the end of the road. At the end of the second path, lay Sasuke. Up ahead, he saw the familiar gates of Konoha being guarded by Izumo and Kotetsu.

This was the point where the paths diverged. It was time to choose.

Sensing Naruto pause, Jiraiya stopped to look back at him. "Naruto? We're almost there. Keep up."

Naruto grinned broadly once more and began to move forward. Jiraiya seemed satisfied and fell into step next to his young protégé.

"Jiraiya-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Hm? What is it gaki? I- I mean Naruto?" Naruto smiled sadly and Jiraiya was instantly suspicious.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked, warily raising an eyebrow at the blonde jinchuuriki.

In an instant, Naruto disappeared. However, it was not in a cloud of smoke signifying a Kage Bushin or Kawarimi, nor a whirl of leaves, which would indicate the use of the Shunshin no Jutsu. Naruto simply blurred out of motion, moving at speeds to fast for even Jiraiya to see.

A letter stuffed itself into Jiraiya's pocket and he immediately spun to his right to catch a brief glimpse of blonde hair. Then it disappeared again.

Growling in outrage, Jiraiya bit his thumb and started going through the hand seals for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu.

He was knocked to the ground before he could form a single hand seal. "Please give my letter to Tsunade-sama. There are other letters in there too, so try not to lose it."

Naruto paused for a moment, then untied his hitai-ate. "And... hold on to this for me," he said, letting it fall to the ground.

Jiraiya stared at Naruto with shock written all over his face. Naruto had never shown this much power in any of his training sessions. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He might have, but Jiraiya could have missed it. Peeping on bathing girls through binoculars tends to distract you from training your pupil from time to time.

"Naruto, stop this! What do you think you'll accomplish and what makes you think I won't just go straight after you and drag your sorry ass back here?"

Naruto shook his head. "Like I said, I'm sorry... Jiraiya." Flashing through a quick set of hand seals, Naruto pressed a glowing hand to Jiraiya's forehead. His eyes immediately shut and he fell back to the ground.

Acting quickly, Naruto pulled a small sealing scroll out of his pocket. The mind paralyzing jutsu he had used would only last for two minutes, even with the amount of power he had put into it. He channeled some chakra and pressed his hands to the scroll. A small bundle wrapped tightly in string popped out, along with a small cloud of smoke. Tossing the package lightly onto Jiraiya's limp form, Naruto disappeared.

The choice had been made.

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**Elsewhere**

Eight shadows formed a circle around a ninth figure shrouded in darkness. Deep within their expansive hideout, the Akatsuki had gathered. The figure in the middle, presumably the leader, spoke up. "It has almost been three years. It is time to resume our hunt for the biju." 

The eight shadows remained silent as their leader explained his intentions for creating a new shinobi nation and eventually, world domination. That was the purpose of Akatsuki and only with the biju could they accomplish their goal.

"Deidara, Sasori." The two shadows closest to the East wall gave their acknowledgments. "You two will go to Suna and pick up the Ichibi jinchuuriki. Take caution. You will be in his territory." Sasori spoke up. "It is also my territory. We will handle it."

His partner couldn't help but add in his part as well. "We will return with the jinchuuriki, yeah. Because art is a blast."

"And what of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki?"

A pair of ruthless circled eyes met Itachi, and the wielder of the Sharingan was forced to blink.

"We wait. For now."

* * *

Some say that life is a long, twisting road. If the path is short enough, you can see all the twists and turns that it takes. If the path is long enough, most of the twists remain hidden under a cloak of uncertainty. Many times, a large, seemingly impossible obstacle obstructs the path, and it is forced to diverge into two separate paths. It is impossible to know for certain which one to take, but you hope against hope that the path you choose will be the right one. 

A/N Hope you all enjoy it. I don't really have the entire story figured out, so if I don't update for a while, its because I've got some serious writer's block. Or lots of homework. But if you have anything you really want to happen, just let me know, and I'll see if I can incorporate it into the story if I think its a good idea.

-chuxles


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